Monday, December 05, 2011

Multi-Tasking: The Work of Bill Walko

Artist Bill Walko is a man who wears many hats: he is a freelance graphic designer, creator of a weekly web-comic, the maintainer of a fan-site every bit as expansive as the Aquaman Shrine and, like the rest of us, a huge fan of comic books with a keen eye towards the myriad characters of the DC Universe.

I first became aware of Bill's artistic talent when his artistic renditions of classic DC characters were featured by the blogs Comics Alliance and DC Women Kicking Ass earlier this year. His unique style which I describe as "post-Modern Hanna-Barbera-esque" immediately jumped out at me for its clean & simple expressiveness and I was amazed at his ability to capture the iconic essence of each of the characters he draws.

Then, when rob! and I were planning Aquaman's 70th Birthday celebration for the Shrine, I came up with the idea of commissioning an artist to do a piece that I'd hoped would showcase the fun spirit of the Shrine, while paying homage to Aquaman and his supporting cast -- from his Silver Age glory days to his current resurgence in popularity. Long story short, I knew Bill was our guy and you can see the results of his work below. We couldn't be happier with this piece, and it was one of the crowning jewels of the Shrine's "Happy 70th Birthday Aquaman"post.

What many of you may not know is that Bill is also the man behind The Hero Business, a weekly web-comic which takes a tongue-in-cheek approach, often cleverly satirizing the comics industry. The Hero Business posts new strips each week on Thursdays and can be followed on Twitter @TheHeroBiz.

"Imagine your office, bitten by a radioactive spider. That’s The Hero Business, a comic chronicling the day-to-day adventures of an agency that caters exclusively to super-heroes (and their super-egos). Because with great power comes great marketability."

In addition, Bill is also the creator of Titans Tower, a blog formatted as an online database of "All Things Titans" and it truly is! If you've never visited TT before be prepared to lose an hour or five out of your life when you do. It rocks!

Which brings us to the "and that's not all..." part of this post: and that's not all, because even as we speak Bill is hard at work putting the final touches on a new top secret project for us! We can't give out details just yet but we can tell you to make sure you take a moment to visit the Aquaman Shrine on December 25th for a special treat...

Bill's full gallery of art can be viewed & prints purchased on his deviantArt page under the name n8twing. Please visit Bill's sites and feel free to tell him you were sent by the Aquaman Shrine!